by John Frenaye
Monday March 30, 2015

After my column last week lamenting the lack of results I have seen from what would be called "traditional" marketing, I heard an ad on a local radio station about a local retail agency that caught my attention. I reasoned that if it caught my attention, it may have caught others as well. Without the benefit of a script, the gist of the 60-second commercial was "we're great, the world is great, we need to travel responsibly and call us for our free responsible travel booklet." I was intrigued.

I called and started the conversation and was told that it was indeed a great marketing tool for the agency. The printed pamphlet offered very minimal advice, but was…

Recently I found myself flipping through the restaurant review section of my local newspaper and spotted a restaurant I thought I would like to try out for an upcoming future event.

I had heard a few good things from friends and felt comfortable in a decision to make a reservation for that special night. I began reading the review thinking that it was only going to reinforce my decision. I was wrong... very, very wrong.

  — Travel Research Online
Read the rest of this article »

by Richard Earls
Sunday March 29, 2015

There are many good reasons not to make price the centerpiece of your presentations, but here's the best one.  Your client only thinks price is important.  The reality, of course, is that every day the client chooses considerations of value over price, even when they begin the conversation by telling you they want to travel "as cheaply as possible."

What the client says and what the client actually means can be two different things entirely.  The client doesn't really mean they want to walk to their destination and sleep under the stars.  The client is expressing their concern about paying too much, about not achieving a good value. The unfortunate fact is all too often the travel professional is immediately…

Yvette De Vries grew up and studied in Stellenbosch, South Africa. She spent the first 10 years of her career in public relations in the local wine industry before moving to the United States and settling in Connecticut.  As the senior consultant at African Portfolio since 2001, Yvette’s extensive travels throughout the continent and years of first-hand experience has been of great value to hundreds of travelers for whom she has tailor-made unique and memorable adventures in East- and Southern Africa, Morocco, Egypt, the Seychelles and Mauritius. She is President of the Association for Promotion of Tourism to Africa, or APTA.

Travel Research Online (TRO): What unique experiences does Africa offer that travel agents can pass along…